Azerbaijan America Alliance

The Story

In the winter of 2015, the Azerbaijan America Alliance
held its annual Khojaly Awareness campaign in the US,
commemorating the Khojaly Tragedy that occurred in
Azerbaijan in February of 1992.

The Khojaly Awareness campaign aims to restore peace
between Armenia and Azerbaijan as a result of the ongoing
Nagorno-Karabakh War - a conflict that remains unresolved
to this day.

Currently, 4% of Azerbaijan’s population lives as refugees
and internally displaced persons - the highest percentage of
internal refugees of any nation in the world. Yet, with some
notable exceptions, the world largely has ignored this conflict.

Campaign

This year, GEM built the creative assets of the awareness
campaign which aired from February 17th, 2015 for several
weeks both in New York City and in Washington, DC. Outdoor
projections and animated boards - including one in Times
Square - caught the attention of millions, while subway
boards were placed at high-traffic stations in both metro
areas to help spread awareness about the Khojaly genocide.

In addition to the out-of-home creative, the Azerbaijan
America Alliance also held a guerrilla campaign in downtown
Washington, DC, featuring a peaceful march. Altogether, the
campaign led to tens of millions of earned media impressions
including notable recognition and press from universities,
Governors, members of Congress, and several world nations.

In the words of the Azerbaijan America Alliance: “Each year
that goes by without addressing the needs of the more than
one million refugees created by the war is another year that
the moral injustice caused by the Massacre and the Nagorno-
Karabakh War lives on. In the interests of peace, justice, and
for those that have been lost, the refugees must be allowed
to return home.”

GEM was proud to be an integral part of this important
event, and we send our thoughts and prayers to the victims in
Azerbaijan.

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